May 12th 2015 Windows Updates Security Bulletin Details

I do care and want to know if SFC is working reliably.
Many folks might never run SFC, so they would never know about the issue, and don't care.

Recently I updated 8.1, no errors, rebooted, no errors, tested all my "regular programs", no errors, ...
So, everything looked good to me.
After that recent round of updates and my testing, i browsed the EF forum and read about folks having SFC issues.
I ran SFC and saw the same SFC error others were reporting and asking about.
I ended up restoring a backup image to fix my problem.

I later learned about the problem KB(s) and SFCFix tool.
I don't want to have issues later and have SFC report problems that started earlier, because of a bad MS update.

I now run SFC after all Windows Updates to make sure it still works "reliably".

I have a bone to pick about people that use abbreviations. They assume that everyone
knows what the hell they are talking about. So what is "SFC".
It seems from reading these messages I need to investigate it.
Please more details how to get and use "SFC".
I also don't like Microsoft using us as their test monkeys.....

mjf said:

Yes and the fact that it was optional/recommended as opposed to "important" still makes it a problem if you try to install it. I recommend making a system image before installing any updates now.

Good advice. I've been Cloning every 2 weeks for about 3+ years on my PC's just for basic HDD backup copies to have a rollback option for numerous potential issues. I also Image but less frequently as I have 2 Cloned HDD's in the service loop.

After seeing the WU problems seemingly increase last July-August, I adjusted my 2-week Cloning's so that I do one on the Saturday before installing the previously deployed Patch Tuesday updates. I'll usually look around the 'net ("Askwoody.com", etc) and here to see if there's any reported issues with WU's that preceding Tuesday.

lehnerus2000 said:

I create backup images prior to installing any "Patch Tuesday" Updates.
I've been doing this for 6 years (since I first got a free imaging program).

This sort of fiasco is why I don't have much confidence in MS' new plan of pushing out updates "every few seconds" for W10.
MS had better restore the ability to turn off auto-updating (once W10 is released) unless they want constant bad publicity.

If they don't, people are going to have to unplug their network cables to protect themselves.
I don't want to have to image my PC prior to plugging in the network cable everyday.

I guess my options will be, stick with W7 and/or use Linux Mint every time I want to use the Internet.

I agree. I've been reading about W10 for a while and that is one of my 2 main questions. The other one is the talk about "secure boot" locking (user possibly not allowed to unlock to BIOS/legacy to boot to utility media (tool/rescue media, etc). It should be interesting to see what happens when the W10 general release is here and we begin to receive feedback about it.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I routinely image once a week (whether I need it or not) plus what I've already mentioned. Besides making sure any updates aren't going to be problematic, I wait until the end of the week after I've made my weekly image to run most updates, run the updates, then make another image. I keep the images for 8 weeks, then discard the older ones (I have the paid version of Macrium Reflect and is automatically discards images older than eight weeks). I also run my data backups after making images so the images will get backed up. And yes, I am paranoid and OCD.

I haven't been Imaging or Cloning after the WU installs, good idea. I might add that to my HDD backup routine.

Paranoia... "not" :). If everyone was backing up HDD's at home, it would reduce malware/PUP postings (for assistance/removal) by perhaps 90% ? That may be a cautious estimate; maybe 95+% .

DavidE said:

I do care and want to know if SFC is working reliably.
Many folks might never run SFC, so they would never know about the issue, and don't care.

Recently I updated 8.1, no errors, rebooted, no errors, tested all my "regular programs", no errors, ...
So, everything looked good to me.
After that recent round of updates and my testing, i browsed the EF forum and read about folks having SFC issues.
I ran SFC and saw the same SFC error others were reporting and asking about.
I ended up restoring a backup image to fix my problem.

I later learned about the problem KB(s) and SFCFix tool.
I don't want to have issues later and have SFC report problems that started earlier, because of a bad MS update.

I now run SFC after all Windows Updates to make sure it still works "reliably".

Thanks for the suggestion. This is something I'll add to my routine, Pre and Post sfc /verifyonly to see the results after WU's.

Computer0304 said:

Wait, does the whole SFC corruption issue mean the update is broken? Or does it not really matter unless you care about SFC?

That's a good point. I have several sfc detections on my less-used Toshiba Laptop PC but it's running good on Win 7x64 OEM as far as I can see, no visible issues, no BSOD's since it was purchased in 2011.

The ideal result is to have no problems reported with sfc but I wonder what is the real consequences of everyday PC use if you see problems present with the sfc scan check.

[update] I see what my issue is with the Laptop. It's related to files that I don't access. I looked at the sfcdetails.txt file to see results.

I like your Sig:

"My take on Murphy's law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong... eventually. So BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!"

Lady Fitzgerald's is great too. As a former RAID 1 user, "ditto" :)

Backup, backup, backup! And RAID is NOT a backup!

Lets say you do an image backup for windows 10, a bad update installs, restore from the image backup the bad update still install unless you somehow block windows updates using a host file or other method.

Will updates be forced if you are on a metered connection or have bandwidth limits when windows 10 is Released? Currently windows 10 preview metered connection is working from what I read and not downloading updates.

The other thing I am concern, if you are on a slow high speed connection and update comes through and you are watching a video, it could cause the video to buffer more.

Even Most Linux distros let you install updates when you want.